CGMagazine is teaming up with Sledgehammer Games to give away FIVE PS4 Call of Duty: WWII Beta Keys! Act quickly; once they’re gone, they’re gone!

Each code will give you access to the private multiplayer beta for Call of Duty: WWII on PlayStation 4. The beta begins this Friday, August 25th and includes at least three maps, War Mode, Progression, Divisions, and of course fan-favourite multiplayer modes. The beta will be available for the first time from August 25th to the 28th. It will also be available a second time between September 1st to the 4th.

Be one of the first to get your hands on Call of Duty: WWII multiplayer!

The contest gives Gears of War fans the opportunity to ”band together and showcase their passion for the franchise in hopes of unlocking the ultimate crew trip.”

The ultimate trip in question? The winner and three friends will see Run the Jewels perform in Austin, Texas at the SOS Music Festival, or receive the VIP treatment at a Gears of War eSports event in London, England.

The hip hop group Run the Jewels debuted a new song in the Gears of War 4 Horde 2.0 premiere trailer, and the duo are also going to be playable characters in multiplayer in Gears of War 4.

To enter, fans will have to complete a variety of challenges with their squad, ranging in difficulty from Novice to Extreme.

Following particular social media accounts like @XboxCanada and taking pictures of specified activities, like two squad-mates enjoying a Gears of War-branded Rockstar energy drinks, are considered to be Novice Challenges, among others.

Intermediate Challenges require more time and involvement than the Novice Challenges do, and some even need a little commitment. Would you cut a Gears of War COG into your hair for 30 entries, or sing an original Gears of War theme song and post it online for 20?
There is only one aptly named Extreme Challenge, titled so because of its difficult requirements: Complete every single challenge. Completing the Extreme Challenge will reward the “ultra-dedicated soldier” with 500 entries into the contest draw.

To get around the fact that some of these challenges do indeed require a purchase, like the challenge that requires an assembly of Gears of War copies, an original handwritten 100-word essay may be mailed in instead.
Once a challenge is completed, photo or screenshot proof must be taken and posted on Instagram or Twitter with #GearsSquadGoalsContest to be automatically entered.

Scouring the Terms of Service revealed that although submissions can be posted on both Twitter and Instagram, contestants will only be awarded contest entries for the first submission related to each challenge. Additionally, each person in a “squad” may enter individually with the same photo for the same challenge and also receive entries. Whether this will cause tension between squad-mates, considering a different squad may be used for each challenge, is yet to be seen.

To enter, you must be over the age of majority in your territory of residence, and you have until the end of October 10, 2016. Gears of War 4 is set to release a day later on October 11 for Xbox One and PC, and winners of #GearsSquadGoals will be notified on October 17, 2016.

CGM has teamed up with Warner Bros. Home Entertainment to give away some of the best movies in recent history.

This month we are giving away DCU Justice League vs Teen Titans.

After Robin’s volatile behaviour ruins a Justice league mission, he is sent to work with the Teen Titans. It is up to the Titans to defeat Trigon after he possesses the league and threatens to conquer the world!

Fan art has always been a huge part of the gaming industry. Being a primarily visual medium, it makes sense that players with a mean pencil hand would take their favourite characters and worlds and put their own spin on them. Thanks to ventures like Steam Works and Player’s Studio, developers have decided to mine the endless talent pool and offer the hardworking artists a chance to get their work into an actual game. Sony Online Entertainment recently hosted just such a contest for their popular multiplayer shooter, Planetside 2. CGM chatted with the game’s Art Director, Bill Yeats, and the winner of the contest, Anthony Palacios, about how this process works and what it can offer artists looking to crack into the industry.

Comics & Gaming Magazine: Tell us a bit about the contest

Raquel Marcelo: Our players had made such great things before, through Player’s Studio so we opened up the key art to them as well because we know it’s really important to the community and a big part of the game.

CGM: Did you guys get tons of submissions?

Bill Yeatts: I think generally speaking, having player generated art, whether it’s 2D, 3D, textures or whatever is a huge plus to the game. It helps out the dev team and allows people to buy into the game a lot more. It also creates a sense of community with the game. I wouldn’t use the term “key art” but if someone wants to do a concept for something or a really beautiful piece, then it’s like ‘hell yeah’ we’ll try to leverage what they’ve done. There’s no reason to stop people trying to generate beautiful art.

CGM: How much attribution do the artists get?

BY: In terms of Player’s Studio they actually make money from selling it. Player’s Studio allows fans to submit works for game assets, and then those game assets go into our store. There’s an approval process and we have to do the final hook ups here, internally. Then we put them our store. We’ve had guys who have made a ton of money off it.

RM: One of the submitters is actually putting himself through college with his stuff.

BY: The downside is, we have to have a tax ID and stuff. We have submissions from foreign nationals sitting in the store and we have to ask “are they tax viable” and if not, well, looks like we’re skipping that one.

Screenshot

CGM: Anthony, how long have you been doing visual art and has it always been related to gaming?

Anthony Palacios: I’ve been digital art since just before the end of high school. I got a small time gig doing an online comic, but didn’t really go anywhere with it as I didn’t have much experience with computers. I didn’t actually own a computer at the time. I just happened to know somebody. Because of my inexperience I kind of fell behind and ended up losing the gig. After that I did go to school and didn’t get back into digital art until I got back in to college, about eight years ago.

CGM: Are you aiming to stay in this industry and continue working on gaming art? Or this a stepping stone to another avenue?

AP: I really enjoy doing game art, just being able to do art as a career is great. I am still trying to figure out where I want to go with it specifically, and I’ve been working on small projects and doing everything I can, but at least I’ve finally got my foot in the door and can try and build something.

CGM: This is obviously a big opportunity to get your stuff out there and get some recognition. Are you beginning to see some results from it?

AP: On the stuff that I’ve been doing, a little bit. Going back to the Player’s Studio thing, I’ve received a couple cheques from that and that’s really cool. Also getting in the game and see my art was pretty awesome and got me some bragging rights.

Anthony Palacios’ work

CGM: Are you a big fan of the game? Do you play much?

AP: Yeah I’ve been playing since the beta. I started out in Alpha Squad and before that I was playing the original Planetside. So yeah, I’ve got a long history with the game.

CGM: So did you enter the contest because you really like the game, or because you wanted to get your art out there? Or both?

AP: Both. As soon as I got the email and saw the contest I thought “I’d be stupid not to.” It was a lot of work, and I only spent half the time I should have spent on it, so I really had to crunch this between my regular day job.

CGM: What’s your regular job?

AP: I work at home depot in the hardware department.

CGM: Doing the legit “Starving artist” thing eh?

AP: Not by choice.

CGM: What’s next after this? Plans for the future?

AP: Keep working at it, keep trying to build the skills and take as many opportunities as I can to get my stuff out there.

Anthony Palacios’ work

CGM: Super generic question but, any advice to give for people in your situation?

AP: I’m usually asking people for their advice. I don’t know, it’s very difficult because you’re on your own a lot and have to plan out what YOU think your next move should be. There’s a lot of questions at the time as far as what I’m doing, like still trying to figure things out. There’s no one there to tell you what to do, there’s no one to guide you. With the internet though, there’s lots of tutorials and people doing YouTube videos. You have to look for it, and there’s not a lot of context so you have to pick and choose what you’re learning from. There’s no way to tell how well it will apply to what you do, but the info is out there. You just have to keep pushing forward.

CGM: As an artist do you find the lack of structure freeing? Or do you struggle because you don’t have a sense of direction or someone breathing down your neck?

AP: It’s a bit of both. On the one hand, you would like to have someone telling you, “do this now” or “work on that”. When you’re on your own you have a lot more freedom about what you choose to work on, but there’s never any clear path. You have to tread your own. It can be very rewarding, but there’s a risk to it as well because you’re using time that you could spend doing other things.

CGM: Walk us through the creative process

AP: Going into this, the first thing was just trying to translate what the theme was about, brotherhood, and marrying that to what the game is about and what is familiar to players from that faction. So taking a concept from those two pieces and moving forward to a visual of what it would actually look like. Thumbnails, rough sketches and then research. I had to research a lot and after that it was the actual building of the piece and the hard stuff.

Anthony Palacios’ work

CGM: There’s obviously a visual aesthetic the game is going for, did you have to shift your personal style to match that?

AP: There was a pretty high bar there, there were two other pieces that were part of the series that were top professional work, so that’s what I was headed for after looking at those two pieces. The major challenge there was trying to push my stuff to that level. The style was high fidelity, realism, and that was a challenge.

CGM: And you’re pleased with how it ended up?

AP: Oh gosh yeah. I couldn’t be happier with it. As far as the piece goes there’s always stuff you look back on think, “I could change that” or “that could have been better.” That’s always the first thing you see when you look at your own work, but as far as results go I couldn’t ask for more, it’s been amazing.

November marks the launch of Assassin’s Creed Unity. Join Arno as he ventures through the French Revolution. Edge Shaving Gel teamed up with Assassin’s Creed to bring players special limited edition cans containing downloadable in-game items.